INSECTA. 
574 
formation ; the abdomen is not furnished with a sting, and is but seldom provided with an 
ovipositor. 
They have for the most part the antennse like a thread, and composed of a great number of 
joints ; two or three ocelli ; the thorax is formed of the three segments intimately soldered 
into one mass, distinct from the abdomen, and supporting the six feet ; the first of these seg- 
ments is generally very short, and like a collar. The number of the joints in the tarsi is 
variable ; the body is generally elongate, with the integuments soft, or but slightly scaly ; the 
abdomen is always sessile. Many of these insects are carnivorous in their first and 
last states. 
Some undergo only a demi-metamorphosis, the others are subject to a complete one ; but 
the larvae have constantly six feet with hooks, of which they commonly make use in searching 
after their food. 
I divide this order into three families, which, in their progressive arrangement, exhibit the 
following natural relations : — 1st. Carnivorous insects undergoing a demi-metamorphosis, with 
aquatic larvae. 2nd. Carnivorous insects undergoing a complete metamorphosis, with terres- 
trial or aquatic larvae. 3rd. Carnivorous, or omnivorous and terrestrial insects, undergoing a 
demi-metamorphosis. 4th. Herbivorous insects undergoing a complete metamorphosis, with 
aquatic larvae, constructing for themselves portable cases. We finish with such as have the 
wings less net-like, and which resemble Phalaenae, or Moths. 
THE FIRST FAMILY OF THE NEUROPTERA,— 
The Subulicones, Latr., — 1 
Is composed of the order Odonata of Fabricius, and of his genus Ephemera. The antennae are in the 
form of an awl, scarcely longer than the head, 7-jointed at the most, the last being in the form of a | 
seta. The mandibles and maxillae are entirely covered by the labrum and labium, or by the anterior | 
and advanced extremity of the head. The wings are always very much reticulated, extended some- 1 
times horizontally and sometimes elevated perpendicularly ; the posterior are as large as the anterior, j 
or sometimes smaller, and even obsolete. In all, the ordinary eyes are large and very prominent, and | 
they have two or three ocelli situated between the preceding. They pass the first two stages of their ^ 
existence in the water, where they feed upon living prey. 
The larvae and pupae, of which the form approaches that of the perfect insect, respire by means of 
peculiar organs, situated upon the sides of the abdomen, or at its extremity. They creep out of the < 
water in order to undergo their final transformation. 
Some of them have the mandibles and maxillae corneous, very strong, and covered by the two lips ; 
the tarsi are 3-jointed ; the wings of equal size, and the posterior extremity of the body terminated 
simply by hooks, or leaf-like appendages. They form the order Odonata, Fabricius ; or the genus > 
Libellula, Linnaeus, [Dragon-flies or Adder-bolts]. ^ 
The slender form of the body, their varied colours, their large gauze-like wings, the rapidity of flight V 
with which they pursue other insects upon which they feed, easily distinguish these Neuropterous ‘ 
insects. They have a large and rounded head, or in the form of a broad triangle, two very large lateral >■ 
eyes — (see M. Cuvier’s memoir on their composition in the Mem. de la Soc. d’Hist. Nat. de Paris ) — m 
three ocelli, situated upon the vertex ; two antennae, inserted upon the forehead behind a vesicular ' i 
elevation, and composed, in the greater number, of five or six joints, or three at least, of which the d 
last is compound, and becomes gradually slender like a style ; the upper lip is semicircular ; the two f 
mandibles scaly, very strong, and toothed ; the maxillae are terminated by a piece of the same consist- j 
ence, toothed, spined, and ciliated on the inside with a palpus composed of a single joint applied upon 1 
it dorsally, resembling the galea of the Orthoptera ; the under lip is large, and composed of three leaves ; 5 
the lateral pair, being the labial palpi, greatly dilated ; a kind of epiglottis, or elongated vesicular ■ [ 
tongue, in the interior of the mouth; the thorax thick and rounded; the abdomen very long, and ]■ 
flattened or cylindric, terminated in the males by two lamellar appendages, of which the figure varies 
